You’d think that by now, I would find the country switch process smooth-sailing, and considering the ease in which life is run in Singapore, that was certainly my presumption too. However, what I have learnt over all these years is that nothing is as it seems and the quirks and particulars of each country all take some getting used to…therefore this is a slight change to my usual posts where I wax lyrical about all the adventures life has brought me, and is more of an explanation of key things needed for living in Singapore…

As with the move to France and to Beijing, my first real challenge was to get Femi all sorted. I learnt that it was a requirement to use a pet agent in Singapore, in order to bring him over from China, and that changed things for me as I have done it by myself previously. It was hard to find the agent so I ended up having one in China also – double the costs, lucky me! The process was lengthy, not least of all because the Quarantine centre had a six-month waiting list. Femi needed all of the usual vaccinations once again, including Rabies and FVRCP, followed with a titre test that was sent labs in Europe to be tested. Therefore we started the process in November, and then had the nerve-wracking wait to see if there was a space in the QC for Femi, that would align with possible flight options…

Thankfully, as I’m a big fan of heat, Femi has never become accustomed to air conditioning; this was lucky as there was no space for him to have an AC cubicle but there were ones available with fans. What a relief!

Unlike when we left Shanghai, Femi had to be taken to the government testing centre five days before we traveled (in the Hai, it had to be done within 48-hours), and unsurprisingly, the centre was in the middle of nowhere and took the best part of a morning to get there and back. Very little happened during this appointment, to be frank, but paperwork is paperwork, and Femi has a folder of documents almost as thick as mine. To meet the critieria, he also had to have a final physical exam at our Beijing vets, whilst also getting treatment for worms and fleas.

The next challenge was my innate fear of putting an animal into the cargo space on a plane. There was no way to fly directly from China to Singapore with Femi up in the cabin with me, but thankfully we learnt that we could go via Korea and this would solve that issue. Of course, there’s no way to communicate to a cat about what was about to happen, and though he had kitty valium before boarding the plane, this was only temporary relief and I was unable to give him a second dose due to the strict rules by the airline of not opening his carrying case for the duration of our journey. Therefore, he wailed like a banshee when we took off, and to be honest, it never really stopped; this continues to be the very worst part of any country move I make and I can’t really fathom how we did it all the way to France in the past.

Meanwhile, I had of course had to get myself prepared for the move; having shippers come for all of my boxes (why do these never get any less? Note to self – MUST condense far better if we move again…), getting my paperwork in order for the visa process, and saying farewells to people I’ve come to love in Beijing.

I’d been forewarned that getting setup with accomodation in Singapore can feel mighty stressful – lots of competition, high costs involved, and limited options available within intended budgets. So, I started looking after my brief visit to the Sing back in March. To do this, I used Property Guru and started sussing out the lay of the land. Generally people use estate agents to help with this process, and the more I researched, the more I understood why…that said, it comes with a high price tag and I really didn’t want to pay it (we’re talking a couple of grand). I’ve lived around the world, I’ve bought property, and rented many more, so why should I need to pay for a service I can do myself? Well, after four months of relentessly looking at properties, I realised that it is worth it because of the stress. That is a high cost too.

You basically have to be ready to accept an apartment within 24-hours of viewing it, or risk losing it to the gazillion other interested parties. You also have to be prepared with a lot of legal jargon that I have not come across anywhere else; rental contracts are a standard two years long. If you were to change your mind before then, you would pay high penalties. The workaround is to negotiate with the landlords to get a diplomatic clause, which frees you up after you have spent 13 months in the said property, should your circumstances have changed.

I found I was getting nowhere fast with my own search and I was unable to really focus on anything else. So at the last minute, I spoke to a friend in Singapore and hired their agent. It’s the same story as always in life – what is the greater cost, money or mental wellbeing?

I chose me.

I landed in Singapore and had hours to wait in the airport before Femi was collected by quarantine. This was the worst part of the new adventure, as he continued to be distressed all through our two night flights, and he was frantic inside his cage at the airport, what with all the lights, sounds and smells. Foolishly, I had completely forgotten to pack any food for him, so he was also starving. Not that he would have eaten, given his anxiety levels, but the guilt I felt was immense.

I ended up leaving the airport before the QC had collected my baby, as it was all I could do to keep my eyes open to order a Grab (the equivalent of China’s Didi, or Europe’s Uber service). However, I arrived at the hotel first thing in the morning meaning I was still scuppered as my room was not available until the afternoon, and the poolside area also wasn’t open for another hour. It was a loooong 24 hours+ for me.

Anyhow, by the time I got to my room and freshened up, I received a message that Femi was in a bad way and could I please come over to the quarantine centre ASAP to help him settle. So off I went, on the excellent public transport systems of Singapore – buses and MRT (equivalent to the London underground). Grabs are expensive (tantamount to taxi prices in the UK to give you an idea), and I knew I had a lot of costs coming up. This meant however that it took me over an hour to get my boy.

The QC staff were very friendly and supportive, and I learnt that owners were allowed to enter their pet’s pen during the visiting hours (Tue/Thur 3-5pm and Sat 2-5pm). Femi was visibly calmed by my presence though he continued to cry for quite some time. However, the second I left, the wails become louder than ever before. This (and the rest of the 31 days of quarantine broke my heart and gave me incredible stress).

Now, back to the househunt. The agent ended up having a partner, so I felt like I got an incredible service from them and they quickly learnt my taste and boycotted some of the planned visits. Construction is in place across the whole island and the noise/dust from this reduced my options somewhat, given the proximity to many of the existing compounds. You can choose to live in alternate styles of accommodation also, such as HDBs though these come without the luxurious facilities of pool/gym/event space (and some with tennis courts, karoake rooms, and even cinema rooms). Alternatively there are what commonly known as the Black and Whites, though these tend to come with the mightiest price tags, existing from the colonial times and predominantly used by diplomats and the wealthy.

For me, I found myself caught between a compound with stunning grounds but the apartment was tiny, or a spacious (ish – I use the term lightly as my budget meant I would never be able to get a 2-bed unless I opted for the local housing) apartment overlooking the Botanic gardens but a small pool and even smaller gym. The former was also marred by the aforementioned construction, so in the end the decision was pretty clear.

To accept the apartment, I had to pay the agent fees (SGD $3000) and also stamp duty (this is 0.4% of the total term rental costs). You also have to pay for two months rent as deposit, and first month’s rental. Added to this, for utilities you pay SGD$300 deposit also. Then of course there’s wifi to pay and get installed. (If you’re lucky like me, you can negotiate to get the setup charge waived). Oh and let’s not forget another requirement – even though I barely use AC, it is contract-bound across all rentals here, that you must get the units serviced every three months (approx $200-250 each time, depending on how many units you have). Thankfully I was at least able to reduce this to every four months, given my lack of usage. Finally, for many rental contracts, you also have to commit to getting the property professionally cleaned before check-out (approx $400). For my place, this also involves getting the curtains done. It all adds up real quick! The other cost of course, depends on whether or not you take an unfurnished apartment. I chose not to, to simplify at least one part of this transition. It does mean however that I would have to replace any furniture should Femi damage it. Thankfully I’ve clipped his claws religiously since he moved in, so this is a very low probability. But still one I have to be mindful of.

Before you can move forwards with any of this though, you must first submit an LoI – letter of intent – to the landlord for them to consider you against the other applicant. It really is quite a complicated process and by this stage, I was very relieved to have engage the agents. I was continually getting messages about Femi (not eating, still very anxious, making himself sick, sometimes even having a bad belly), and it was very reassuring not to be the one following up on these various aspects.

An inspection takes place 24-hours before you move in also and the advice is to photograph every single thing. (I didn’t think this was particularly different to any other rental I’ve hard, but it turned out to be highly detailed and very thorough, so again, thank goodness for the agents).

Next on the list was getting a bank account organised, and getting my visa transferred into what is called an Employment Pass (EP). To gain the EP, you must visit the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) wherein you have your photo and fingerprints taken and then end up being issued with something called a FIN/NRIC number. From this, you then apply for your Singpass, which is something I have come to love. Anytime you sign up for a new app be it shopping, exercise, or entertainment, you click on your Singpass QR code and you get automatically added into the systems. It serves as identity verification and allows you to be ready for sorting out your taxes each year.

The bank setup was a surprisingly long process, as it took 1-2 weeks for the bank card and pin to be sent out. This therefore limited me in various ways, but I continued to use my Wise account whilst I remained without access to local currency.

Finally, it was time to get setup with a Sim card; this was not possible until I had the bank account and an address, but it was actually one of the easiest things to get done. I was given the whatsapp number of someone, and he processed the whole thing within half an hour, meaning I had an esim ready and raring to go. Unfortunartely for me however, down the line I discovered that my number wasn’t always being recognised by various apps, so I ended up switching to a physical sim anyhow. You can do this in the Singtel shops quite easily, and there is even an ATM that you can use to do it fully independently.

After moving into the apartment, and preparing to start work, I realised I had made a real rookie error – I needed to be smartly dressed and had packed accordingly. However everything was incredibly creased and now that I was no longer in the hotel, I couldn’t do anything about it. Lesson learnt – although I had two irons coming over in the shipping, a travel iron was imperative whilst I had this limbo state. Admittedly I even tried using my straightening irons, but alas this was an epic fail. Thankfully one of my colleagues came to my rescue instead, and loaned me their iron.

Now, that’s enough of the seriousness and I want to get onto the more fun things in life again with my writing. So I shall leave you with some pics of the first month in Singapore, to whet your appetite. More practicalities to come in the next edition, but mixed in with some of the adventures this beautiful country has already brought in for me.